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Power 100: 50 and Up

The definitive guide to the top marketers in the UK.

50: FRANK VAN DER POST - BRITISH AIRWAYS

BA poached van der Post from hotelier Jumeirah Group in January, with the ailing British flag-carrier pinning its hopes on a customer-experience expert to revive its fortunes. His clout in this area is unarguable, with a 25-year career history in the hospitality business, but some have questioned whether he has the requisite branding credentials for his role of managing director, brand and customer experience, particularly after his appointment ruffled feathers: Kerris Bright, BA head of global marketing, left shortly after his arrival.

49: PETE MARKEY - RSA

Markey has just been promoted from More Th>n marketing director to chief marketing officer across RSA's businesses. It is testament to the energy and ideas he has brought to the brand, including the introduction of the insurance brand's frontman, More Th>n Freeman, based on Red, Morgan Freeman's character in The Shawshank Redemption. The aim is to engender trust and is More Th>n's attempt at injecting some life into a dull sector. Markey, a former Marketing Society Marketer of the Year, has been at More Th>n for five years.

48: VLADIMIR MALUGIN - HTC

Taiwanese mobile device manufacturer HTC seems to have appeared out of nowhere over the past 12 months. Credit for this stratospheric rise must go to Malugin, its general manager, Middle East and Africa region. Thanks to some excellent NPD, combined with sustained marketing investment, the company is now the world's third-most-valuable smartphone maker. Last month, it overtook Nokia in terms of market value; 2011 could well be HTC's year in the UK.

47: EMMA HARRIS - EUROSTAR

Marketers looking for how best to handle a crisis need look no further than Harris, who, as director of marketing and sales, led the cross-Channel rail operator out of an embarrassing lack of communication following service disruptions over Christmas 2009. She cancelled all marketing and started with a blank slate, rebuilding the brand's reputation. She is now poised to spearhead its next phase of development: Eurostar plans to enter partnerships with other operators and grow its destination offering. Harris has risen rapidly through the ranks, having joined Eurostar's business sales team in 2001 from Bass Brewers. She rose to director of UK sales, before taking on the international markets remit in 2005. Harris also led the change-management programme for Eurostar's move to London's St Pancras International.

46: DARYL FIELDING - KRAFT FOODS EUROPE

Over the past 12 months, Cadbury's creative flair has faded into memory, and its vice-president of marketing, Fielding, has been quiet. Whether this is a result of a diktat from the top as Kraft continues to whip the UK media into a frenzy is unclear. Fielding has disclosed that Kraft will use the Cadbury Olympic sponsorship 'Spots Vs Stripes' campaign as the model for future marketing, despite a mixed response. Key to her success will be the performance of its Kenco Millicano Wholebean Instant coffee.

45: OBI FELTEN - GOOGLE EMEA

Google's presence as an advertiser is on the increase and Felten, director of consumer marketing, is leading the charge. Not many brands have its global recognition, but Google has adopted a policy of promoting specific products, such as web browser Chrome. It spent £5m on boosting its brand in the UK in 2010 and became a top-10 spender on online ads in the process. Felten's reach is across Europe, however, where she has enjoyed success in making mobile operating system Android a consumer brand. She is using Google's Chrome campaign as a model for future marketing and has promised bigger and bolder work.

44: EUAN SUTHERLAND - KINGFISHER UK & IRELAND

B&Q is back. Profits for the last full recorded year were up 22.5% to £670m, and the DIY retailer is implementing ambitious plans to launch overseas. Sutherland, chief executive of parent group Kingfisher's UK & Ireland Division, cut his marketing teeth at both Mars and Matalan, and has continued investing to boost the brand. Last July, his role was expanded to include helping the company's global operations.

43: PETER DUFFY - EASYJET

Duffy has joined the no-frills airline from Audi as its marketing director on a high, having relaunched the Audi website and implemented a year-long campaign while the car industry faced its lowest sales in more than a decade. With easyJet finally bringing its agency pitch to an end and putting £9m into VisitBritain's four-year marketing campaign, consumers can expect Duffy to take the airline to new heights.

42: ALISON JONES - ARCADIA GROUP

In her first year since joining fashion retail group Arcadia from Debenhams, group marketing director Jones has kept a fairly low profile. This might have something to do with boss Sir Philip Green's plans to close 300 stores over three years. Despite high-street purchasing being at a record low, however, Arcadia continues to turn a healthy profit. With consolidation well under way, and Bhs now firmly under the Arcadia umbrella, Jones' second year in the job could give her the chance to shine.

41: JOANNA SHIELDS - FACEBOOK

Shields is on a charm offensive. Facebook has been thin on the ground in terms of its international organisation, so is working to get brands to buy into it. The former Bebo president joined as vice-president of sales and business development EMEA, after launching ShineVu, a digital production company, with Elisabeth Murdoch. It has been a challenging year for the social media site, which has faced up to criticism of its privacy policy and negative coverage sparked by the film The Social Network.

40: MARK VILE - COMPARETHEMARKET.COM

Associate director of marketing Vile believes cheeky meerkat Aleksandr Orlov continues to deliver brand saliency in a competitive category, with a growing range of meerkat merchandise proving it continues to capture the public's imagination. The big challenge is where to take the brand next. Over the past year digital has become a greater focus for the brand, which invests heavily in TV. Vile also oversaw a review of Comparethemarket's £15m media account, with ZenithOptimedia reappointed. It remains to be seen whether there is life after fast-talking furry mammals.

39: NIGEL GILBERT - VIRGIN MEDIA

Virgin Media appointed former Lloyds Banking Group marketing chief Gilbert to the new role of chief marketing officer last Christmas. He has a huge task as the company looks to outpace the growth of rivals such as BSkyB and its mammoth marketing budget. His key challenge will be to harness the power of its web-enabled TiVo service. As a former adman (he was chairman and chief executive of Asia Pacific and global account director for Lowe Worldwide), Gilbert is a smooth operator. However, he remains an unproven quantity in his first role at a media owner.

38: RICHARD HAYES - WARBURTONS

It has been a busy year for this amiable marketing director. NPD has been high on the agenda, and Warburtons entered the snacking category with the £1m launch of ChippidyDooDaa and SnackaDoodle snack packs. It is also gearing up for the summer season with a range of rolls for barbecues. Hayes has been focused on repositioning within the company and is poised to review its regional PR agencies.

In April, he boosted his team with the appointment of former Durex global marketing director Megan Harrison to the position of marketing controller. Hayes has also forged ahead with expanding the bread brand's reach via the creation of a mid-sized Toastie loaf, produced exclusively for budget retailer Poundland.

37: PHILIP SCHILLER - APPLE

As senior vice-president of worldwide product marketing, Schiller is one of Apple's highest-profile marketers. He has spent more than 20 years at the technology company delivering products such as the iMac, iPod and iPhone. However, aside from its co-founder and chief executive, Steve Jobs, Apple is famed for placing product before personality and its marketers keep it low-key. The company's best-known European marketer, former Lastminute.com and Honda marketer Simon Thompson, left earlier this month and is yet to be replaced. Apple's brand profile goes from strength to strength, but individual marketers have little opportunity to grow their own profile.

36: MARC MENESGUEN - L'OREAL

At the start of the year, Menesguen joined L'Oreal's executive committee, a signal of the growing importance of marketing to the French cosmetics firm. Surprisingly, it had been relatively slow to create the managing director of the strategic marketing department position, which has a worldwide remit. This is probably because it prefers to run each brand autonomously. Now that the role does exist, Menesguen will head a global marketing department that will strive to identify worldwide trends quickly and disseminate insight across the group. In particular, his remit includes driving a 'digital revolution' at L'Oreal. He joined the company in 1985 as a product manager for Diparco International.

35: PAUL DICKINSON - VIRGIN ATLANTIC

In the age of ash clouds and protracted industrial action, Dickinson must be credited with putting some glamour back into flying. The affable director of sales and marketing has continued to build on the success of Virgin Atlantic's 25th anniversary campaign with a continued drive to promote its sheer sex-appeal. Despite the challenging economy, Dickinson has invested in a brand overhaul of the Virgin fleet. The airline has also increased investment in its firstand business-class lounges.

34: DAVID RENNIE - NESTLE CONFECTIONERY UK

When Kraft bought Cadbury, Nestle soon found itself further behind the leading players in terms of market share. Rennie, managing director of Nestle Confectionery UK, has been very public about targets to rectify that. Nestle wants to use what it calls the 'magnificent seven' brands - Aero, Kit Kat, Smarties, Milky Bar, Quality Street, After Eight and Rowntree - to grow market share by 0.2% a year from its current 16%. With cocoa prices at a 30-year high, pressures on the sector are increasing. NPD from within the seven brands, and a continued review of pricing, are Nestle's best bets for increasing profit. For his part, Rennie remains low-profile, despite overseeing some of Britain's best-loved brands.

33: ROBERT TANSEY - BSKYB

As BSkyB's director of brand strategy and marketing, Tansey has had a key challenge over the past year: as cash-strapped consumers cut back on outgoings, his task is to persuade them that its pay-TV channels are an essential expenditure. He has certainly held his nerve when it came to discounting and price promotions, instead beefing up Sky's offering with the launch of premium channels such as Sky Atlantic and bolstering marketing investment to support the brand's premium positioning. While rivals have talked a good game when it comes to marketing investment, Tansey has put his money where his mouth is and Sky ousted Unilever to become the UK's second-biggest-spending advertiser in 2010.

32: ZOE HOWORTH - COCA-COLA

Howorth, a new entrant to the list, merits inclusion due to the fact that, following a shake-up of Coca-Cola's European marketing last October, she came out on top of the pile in the UK as GB market activation director. The same restructure led 12 UK staff to quit, including the high-profile GB marketing director Cathryn Sleight. Although Howorth's profile is nowhere near that of Sleight, she has already led noteworthy campaigns such as the launch of the 'Open happiness' approach. She has also showed that she is social-media savvy by breaking this campaign online.

31: CHRIS CLARK - HSBC

Following a two-year stint as HSBC's head of customer experience, Clark was dragged back into the marketing limelight in 2010 after the abrupt departure of group head of marketing Tracy Britton. Now installed as group head of marketing and customer experience, the former Saatchi & Saatchi executive, who pioneered HSBC's 'The world's local bank' campaign and appointed WPP's JWT to its global ad account, has unprecedented influence over the bank's consumer strategy. Adspend, about £27m in the UK last year, is unlikely to change dramatically. Instead, the spotlight is liable to fall on an area important to Clark: lessening the disparity between HSBC's lavish international feel and its less glamorous UK branch network.

30: MARK SIMPSON - FORD

The past 12 months have not proved the easiest for the affable Simpson, Ford of Britain's marketing director. The end of the scrappage incentive scheme heralded a return to a tough trading environment, and Simpson was shackled by an ad budget that fell 37% year on year to £30.5m in 2010.

Yet with the company's Focus and Fiesta models continuing to sell strongly, Ford maintained its position as UK market leader with a share of more than 15%.

The next 12 months will be action-packed for Simpson, not least because they will include a heavyweight global campaign for the latest Focus. The car marque is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, and with this year's Champions League final to be held at Wembley, it is also investing in its sponsorship of the competition.

29: SIMON STEWART - BRITVIC

It has been a strong year for Britvic, backed by some beautiful and nostalgic advertising campaigns promoting the Robinsons brand to its core family audience. Marketing director Stewart even managed to achieve growth for the struggling J2O brand, returning a 14% rise in sales for the year to October 2010. Last year also brought the first joint campaign between Britvic and PepsiCo, for which it serves as a bottle distributor and manufacturer in the UK. The drive was intended to boost the pair's on-the-go drinks ranges in a £5.5m tie-up. In December, Stewart hired Pamela Bower-Nye from Diageo as international marketing director at Britvic, to lead ambitious growth plans across Europe, Asia and North America. While Stewart may appear to be a low-profile marketer, he is clearly moving his brands forward.

28: PHIL THOMAS & STEFAN GAA - RECKITT BENCKISER

Credit for a job well done for last year's number one in the Power 100 list, Phil Thomas, came in the form of promotion to category director for global surface care following the merger of Reckitt Benckiser's two marketing units. The 70-strong UK marketing department is now overseen by marketing director Gaa, who previously led the company's 25-strong health marketing unit. The move comes at a key time for the company as the charismatic chief executive Bart Becht exits. While City analysts have whispered about strategic disagreements, the company is poised to build on Becht's acquisition-hungry strategy.

27: MARIANO DIMA - VISA

In the run-up to the London 2012 Olympics, Dima faces a challenge equal to any athlete on the track in ensuring Visa gains cut-through in a crowded and competitive marketplace. With responsibility for all the partnership marketing around Visa's sponsorship of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the FIFA World Cup - as well as the management of the Visa brand across Europe - the next 12 months will be action-packed for the executive vice-president of marketing and product solutions. He has already kicked off Visa's marketing activity in fine form with a £5m, 18-month ad campaign. TV, press and outdoor ads starring Paralympic veteran Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, Sir Steve Redgrave and Jessica Ennis ensured that Visa's association with the Olympics is more than a logo.

26: EVA EISENSCHIMME - LLOYDS BANKING GROUP

Eisenschimmel was brought to Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) last year with a reputation for taking no prisoners, and the former EDF and British Airways marketer has made waves. As LBG was trimmed by the regulators, the managing director for group marketing and direct channels set about attempting to shore up its share of the retail banking market. Marketing budgets soared in 2010, with Lloyds TSB spending £44.8m (up 76% on 2009) and Halifax investing £37.2m (up 65%) on advertising. Eisenschimmel led a review of Halifax's ad account, replacing DLKW Lowe with Adam & Eve, and is overseeing a restructure of its marketing division.

25: DAWN PAINE - NINTENDO

As competition and innovation in the gaming market continue to intensify, the past 12 months have posed a huge marketing challenge for Nintendo. While its positioning as the family-friendly brand of choice has boosted sales considerably, its next challenge will be to compete with the raft of innovation in the sector. Marketing director Paine has already stepped up to the challenge with the current 3DS campaign, the brand's most significant product launch this year. The latest push is intended not only to continue to appeal to the family market, but also to hardcore gamers, by positioning the brand at the forefront of innovation ahead of the launch of its Wii 2 console in 2012.

24: MIKAH MARTIN-CRUZ - MICROSOFT UK

Since joining Microsoft in October 2010 as chief marketing officer, the ex-Samsung marketer has not come up for air, from signing up Gorillaz to launch Internet Explorer 9 to unveiling the biggest ad campaign to date for Windows 7. Heading the company's consumer marketing arm, Martin-Cruz reports directly to Ashley Highfield, UK managing director of Microsoft consumer and online. Having previously held marketing roles at Sony, where he was responsible for products including Bravia TVs, Vaio notebooks and Cybershot cameras, Martin-Cruz is well-versed in the art of technology marketing, while stints at BT Entertainment, Viacom and Warner Bros have ensured he is on top of his game when it comes to conveying the entertainment potential of Xbox Kinect.

23: KEITH MOOR - SANTANDER

Last year, the Santander brand arrived in earnest as a force in UK banking. Through the use of Formula One racing-driver brand ambassadors Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, Moor has raised awareness of the Spanish bank and completed the conversion of its acquired Alliance & Leicester customers. Santander's UK adspend passed £30m in 2010 and looks set to rise again this year. The director of brand and communications also conducted a review of the bank's agency arrangements in December, retaining Engine Group in a resounding vote of confidence in its ongoing 'Red brick' creative strategy. Moor will be looking to steal market share over the coming year, although there is plenty of work to be done in addressing Santander's regularly woeful performance in customer-service surveys.

22: RICK BENDEL - WAL-MART

Bendel faces a tough year, as Asda pushes ahead with ambitious plans to promote its online and financial-services products to close the gap on market leader Tesco. The global chief marketing officer, who once oversaw Asda's ad account at Publicis, joined the supermarket five years ago. He is in charge of marketing in all territories outside the US. The past year has afforded even greater power to Bendel following changes made by Asda's chief executive, Andy Clarke, at the Wal-Mart store subsidiary. Bendel continues to be one of the biggest players in the industry.

21: STEVEN SHARP - MARKS & SPENCER

M&S seems to have lost its marketing mojo, having had a somewhat lacklustre 12 months. With his longstanding boss and friend, Sir Stuart Rose, now departed, all eyes are on Sharp, executive director for marketing, to put the excitement back into the brand. Incoming boss Marc Bolland credited 'strong products backed by great advertising' as the reason the retailer outperformed the market; however, its latest like-for-like results showed a modest 0.1% growth in sales, although this was in contrast to the fall most analysts had forecast. Bolland clearly respects Sharp's ad strategy; the 'Your M&S' slogan remains intact, albeit in an expanded form as 'Only at your M&S'. The strapline is intended to suggest both exclusivity and ownership by the 'great British public'. Whether Sharp feels there is much more he can do at M&S is one of the biggest questions in adland.

20: TROY WARFIELD - KIMBERLEY-CLARK

Ditching real fur for fake is usually to be applauded. However, when Warfield, Kimberley-Clark's vice-president of family care for Europe, opted for a CGI version of the Andrex puppy, the switch divided opinion both among consumers and the industry. Nonetheless, Warfield's decision has undoubtedly got people discussing a brand that, arguably, many had stopped caring about. As a board-level marketer, he has helped develop an 'innovation culture' throughout the business, which also owns the Huggies and Kleenex brands. He maintains a strong focus on the value of metrics to ensure marketing delivers ROI. With 232,000 Facebook 'likes' and 1640 Twitter followers for the CGI version of the Andrex Puppy, it is easy to see that the campaign is engaging consumers. How that translates to sales growth is another matter.

19: JENNELLE TILLING - YUM! BRANDS

After a decade at KFC's parent company, Tilling, vice-president of marketing for its UK and Ireland operations, is showing no signs of letting up. Over the past 12 months she has overseen a range of innovations. Garnering customer approval for KFC's planned futuristic branch format, currently being trialled, has taken up much of her time, alongside how best to manifest the introduction of the strapline 'So good'.

KFC has won positive coverage with its decision to display calorie counts on its menus. On a more negative note, it has yet to conquer the breakfast market, despite repeated attempts. Tilling's engaging personality has made her a popular figure and she maintains her commitments to multiple industry bodies.

18: CLAIRE HARRISON-CHURCH - SAINSBURY'S

With former Power 100 stalwart Gwyn Burr settling in to her new role as customer service and colleague director, with the added responsibility of human resources, Harrison-Church has taken the helm at Sainsbury's marketing department as director of brand communications. She oversees the supermarket's communications strategy, including ad development and media plans for campaigns such as '5 family meals for £20', as well as own-brand strategy and local and online marketing. She has a strong marketing pedigree that includes three years as marketing director at Boots and a 15-year tenure at Unilever. This powerful blend of FMCG and retail experience will ensure that she remains a sought-after marketer for years to come.

17: MARK HUNTER - MOLSON COORS

Hunter is not afraid to speak his mind, a good trait in the chief executive of an alcoholic drinks company. After all, the sector is under constant fire when it comes to its marketing activity. His outspokenness, also makes the feisty Scot an ideal president of ISBA and he has used this platform to great effect to hit back at critics and get the industry's point across. Hunter is also forthright in his views on agencies; he once famously said that they must 'evolve or die'. A marketing man by trade, Hunter is hands-on when it comes to the strategy for key brands in his portfolio, such as Coors and Carling. He is also central to the company's innovation projects, such as the BitterSweet partnership, which is intended to attract more women to the beer category.

16: SPENCER McHUGH - EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE

It has been a big year for brand director McHugh, who has managed the merger of Orange and T-Mobile to form Everything Everywhere. On one level, the two brands are aligning; media bundled into Group M, production into Communisis, and one big, overarching campaign showing the two brands 'talking' through their respective ads. However, the brands are set to become more distinct, with Orange positioned as a premium brand for older users and T-Mobile for younger social networkers.

This year will be testing for McHugh as he looks to create two stronger brands from a slimmed-down core, while selling the pair to consumers without confusing them. Nonetheless, it may well be that Everything Everywhere becomes an unstoppable force in the mobile arena.

15: GAVIN PATTERSON - BT

Patterson is a familiar face both in the upper echelons of this list and in marketing circles generally. As a fellow of The Marketing Society, and a member of networking clubs The Marketing Group of Great Britain and the Thirty Club, he enjoys a high profile. This will be boosted further by the fact that in February he took on a non-executive directorship at beleaguered airline British Airways. However, while Patterson, who has been at BT since 2004, has been credited with launching some innovative products, such as BT Total Broadband, things have not been all plain sailing for the marketing director-turned-chief executive. For the third year running, BT has been rated the worst home-phone provider by comparison website uSwitch, achieving the lowest scores of all brands in all 11 judging criteria.

14: JON GOLDSTONE - HOVIS

Premier Foods has seldom been out of the marketing press in the past 12 months, whether it be headlines about the company being sold off or its 'Great little ideas' campaign, which appears to have been a hit with consumers. Goldstone's promotion to the new role of group marketing director received fewer headlines, but he clearly now has one of the biggest food marketing jobs in the UK. He has been quick to make his mark, reorganising Premier Foods' marketing along the lines of PepsiCo with a function-led unit. As the head of Premier's Hovis and grocery unit, Goldstone is likely to face a busy year ahead.

13: ANDY FENNELL - DIAGEO

Being chief marketing officer of one of the world's biggest drinks companies, wielding an annual budget of nearly £2bn (and rising), makes Fennell a powerful figure. The fact that he is also passionate and vocal about his opinions on the discipline serves to raise his profile still further. Fennell feels strongly, for instance, that marketers should possess flair, but also be numerate, and he is keen to instil these values through his participation as a mentor in The Marketing Academy, a nascent independent programme. He also encourages risk-taking among his own team, which was restructured last June to concentrate on category, rather than individual brands, bringing a more commercial focus to marketing. In addition, Fennell is both experimental and entrepreneurial in his approach, as demonstrated by initiatives such as signing up Guinness to be the first beer brand on Apple's mobile advertising platform, iAd, in the US.

12: CHRIS JANSEN - BRITISH GAS

As managing director of services and commercial at British Gas, Jansen is a fantastic role model for marketers seeking to advance to the pinnacle of their business. Not only is he responsible for all sales and marketing, but also the British Gas Homecare division, which serves 4m customers. While last winter's cold weather brought with it a raft of business challenges for the brand, it has continued to drive ahead with campaigns promoting its full-service offering to consumers.

11: CRAIG INGLIS - JOHN LEWIS

Craig Inglis, director of marketing at John Lewis, has reportedly had the nation collectively crying into its tea cups with the acclaimed and award-winning 'Always a woman' campaign. While this has clearly raised his profile, the unassuming Scot has refused to let the hoopla go to his head. New work from ad agency Adam & Eve has pushed the store's fashion and homewares offering, while its most recent Christmas campaign featured an Ellie Goulding cover of Your Song to deliver a 'joy of giving' message. Such evocative creative has been matched by the department store's financial performance, with its pre-tax profits leaping 20% to £367.9m in the year to 29 January. For Inglis, such a return on the back of quality creative and a clear strategy is a marriage made in heaven, and one that has propelled marketing to the forefront of John Lewis' overall business approach.

10: CHRIS TOWNSEND & GREG NUGENT - LOCOG

The Olympic dream team of commercial director Townsend and brand and marketing director Nugent has a huge 12 months on its hands. Despite some very public cock-ups recently, such as the failure of the Olympic countdown clock and glitches with the ticketing website, public perception of the organisers is holding up well; a OnePoll survey in March showed that the public is broadly confident that LOCOG will do Britain proud. This will be good news for Nugent, who has kept a low profile in his first full year in the role. Clearly, the next 12 months will be key to LOCOG's success, and the marketing effort, overseen by a 100-strong marketing team and ad agency McCann Erickson, has now started to gain momentum. In April, LOCOG ran an auction of the Olympic's outdoor media space, worth an estimated £250m.

9: DIANNE THOMPSON - CAMELOT

'The first lady of marketing' joined Camelot in 1997 as commercial operations director, and took over as chief executive in December 2000. Having previously attained top spot in the Power 100, she has led the company through its biggest challenge to date - securing the licence to operate the National Lottery until 2019. The brand has managed to strike a difficult balance between growing online and introducing a range of promotions, while avoiding accusations of, in effect, being a tax on the poor. Thompson will face added competition to her brand from Northern & Shell's Richard Desmond, who is launching a Health Lottery to compete with Camelot. However, with the National Lottery poised to provide £750m of Olympic funding and launching themed promotions for the London 2012 Games, it will be tough to topple Thompson from her throne.

8: ELIZABETH FAGAN - BOOTS

Straight-talking marketing director Fagan has proved to be a transformational force for good for the Boots brand. Since her introduction of the 'Here come the girls' campaign five years ago, she has successfully managed to create both a premium and inclusive positioning for the high-street health and beauty retailer. Her latest coup was the extension of its Advantage loyalty-card scheme to some 50 partners, including Asos, eBay and Mothercare, while a deal with French supermarket group Carrefour greatly extended Boots' international reach. The Boots brand is unrecognisable from its fusty chemist image of decades ago and much of the credit for this goes to Fagan.

7: AMANDA MACKENZIE - AVIVA

After 2009's colossal rebrand of Norwich Union to the global Aviva moniker, one might assume that chief marketing and communications officer Mackenzie would have taken her foot off the gas this year. However, she has built on her achievements. She recently joined the board of Mothercare, and was a member of the government's recent Communications Review, as well as Lord Davies' Women on Boards steering group.

6: SALLY COWDRY - O2

Another hectic year has passed for O2 marketing director Cowdry, who has helped propel the brand formerly known as BT Cellnet to the top of the mobile telecoms pile since 1999. Last year, O2 became the most-decorated brand in the history of the IPA Effectiveness Awards when it won gold for rebranding and reviving the fortunes of the Millennium Dome. O2's ad strategy for 2011, which is pushing a value message to cash-strapped consumers as government cuts bite, has firmly tapped into the zeitgeist. Although O2 has lost its exclusive deal on iPhone distribution, it has extended its reach by adding fixed-line options to its mobile phone offer. Meanwhile, its loyalty programme, Priority, continues to tackle customer churn. In addition, Cowdry has ensured O2 is no slouch in the online content race, launching guru.tv on YouTube earlier this year.

5: KEITH WEED - UNILEVER

With a year under his belt as chief marketing and communications officer at Unilever, and, moreover, as the first marketer on the board, Weed has been shaping the direction of the e44.3bn (£39bn) company. Having joined as a trainee 28 years ago, Weed is now responsible for directing the world's second-biggest advertiser, behind Procter & Gamble, with an annual spend of $7.4bn (£4.5bn). He is a firm believer in digital, but also believes 'digital' is an unhelpful title, preferring to talk about the importance of its social media, mobile, search, video, gaming and ecommerce components.

In each country, says Weed, Unilever is apportioning anywhere between 2% and 30% of its marketing budget to digital.

4: RICHARD HODGSON - MORRISONS

There is no doubt that group commercial director Hodgson has a huge challenge on his hands. The former commercial director of Waitrose has been briefed to change the face of Morrisons, which is in the midst of a root-and-branch modernisation and brand revitalisation programme. As the man credited with introducing the Essential Waitrose own-label line, Hodgson was tasked with dissuading cash-conscious shoppers from defecting to cheaper supermarkets. Now that he has moved to one of those aggressively price-led grocers, Hodgson is working alongside Morrisons' new boss, Dalton Philips, to modernise it. This year alone, the supermarket has acquired UK e-tailer Kiddicare.com and a 10% stake in US grocery site FreshDirect. Both ventures mean it will avoid a standing start when it comes to ecommerce. Also on Hodgson's agenda is the launch of a clothing range, and convenience stores, branded M Local.

3: RICHARD BRASHER - TESCO

With the departure of the hugely respected and high-profile Sir Terry Leahy, Tesco's commercial director Brasher has been promoted to chief executive of the UK business after 23 years with the retailer. This was a big step up for the man behind the data giant that is Clubcard. However, there have been setbacks on his watch, not least a few red faces after Tesco attempted to see off Asda's Price Guarantee by offering double the difference. Unfortunately for Tesco, some wily consumers found a loophole that meant 'double the difference' more than covered their entire shopping bill. Tesco, however, remains staunchly risk-averse. This year, it has diversified into beauty salons and even second-hand car sales, and last month announced that it had bought an 80% stake in internet TV service Blinkbox for an undisclosed sum. Its ambition to be the 'world's best multichannel retailer' remains firmly on course.

2: JILL McDONALD - McDONALD'S

Marketers looking to make their way onto the company board need look no further for inspiration than McDonald, who was last year elevated to the very pinnacle of the Golden Arches, becoming McDonald's UK chief executive. The high-profile marketer has overseen a sea change in positioning at the fast-food behemoth, and under her stewardship it has taken the lead when it comes to displaying calorie counts on menus. That said, McDonald, who took over as chief executive last August, has been relatively quiet this past 12 months as she assesses how McDonald's can regain its hegemony in the UK market. While it has lost its status as the world's biggest fast-food company to Subway, which now has more outlets, in other areas, such as the roll-out of contactless payments, it continues to outpace its rivals. McDonald has made a point of maintaining a focus on dispelling perceptions that the company does not care about its employees and encourages staff to email her directly.

1: ROISIN DONNELLY - PROCTER & GAMBLE

In an era when many brands have slashed ad budgets, Procter & Gamble's rapid ascent to become the UK's biggest advertiser is of particular note.

At the helm of this marketing powerhouse, Donnelly, the corporate marketing director and head of marketing, put the heart back into P&G with its overarching 'Proud supporter of mums' message. A forthcoming campaign, which focuses on the mothers of London 2012 competitors, reinforces the brand's ownership of the family heartland, a strategy that has led to significant growth in sales. The joined-up thinking of P&G's ad-break takeover, in which it promotes a range of products to help women achieve a makeover, reflects her understanding of her target market, which has underpinned all its marketing.

A great champion of marketing, Donnelly is a fantastic networker and is chairwoman of trade organisation Cosmetic Executive Women, president of The Marketing Society and a vice-president of WACL. She is also on the fundraising, marketing and communications board of Cancer Research UK and the business committee of Glasgow University.

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